Working 9-5 and Building Your Business!
So where are you in your journey? Owning and building a business is indeed a journey. Right now, some of us may be well into our journey and some of us may be just starting out. There are some of us who are extremely blessed that were able to walk away from our 9-5 job right at the beginning of our journey. Then there is the majority of us who have had to go to the 9-5 every day and run our business during the off hours and that’s what I’d like to chat about.
I’ve had another business venture that I gave up (Wedding & Event Planning) because I just couldn’t figure out how to work it out while I worked 9-5 and I started to hate it instead of love it! Which I figured out later, it just wasn’t my passion. I liked to create behind the scenes but having to get out there on the wedding day was way too much for my physical body. Choosing to go into business as a Virtual Assistant was as easy as breathing. I love it! I love serving, I love helping and most of all, I love the freedom it brings!
But of course, there is still that 9-5. I’ve met so many people who gave up or want to give up because of the 9-5 or feel like the clients want too much. But here’s the thing my friends, the reality is, when building a business, we have to sacrifice. There was a point that I was being so hard on myself because I felt like I wasn’t getting everything done. But I felt like it was because I just wasn’t trying hard enough. So, one day, I sat down with my life saving daily planner and my online calendar and I created a weekly plan for everything. Everything meaning, my travel to work, my hours at work, my travel home, time to make dinner, client hours, time for admin work for my business, time for ministry work etc. Once it was all down on paper, I realized, it’s not that I’m not trying or that I was being lazy, there are just only so many hours in a day and I wasn’t planning out my time properly.
So I had to do something that (to me) was the unthinkable!!! I’m a night person. Mornings are deadly to me. I seriously hate them! Tea doesn’t make it better, food doesn’t make it better and the thought of money doesn’t make it better either. BUT, it was at this point that I realized, it isn’t about what I like right now. I was in the stage in my business where sacrifice was going to be my middle name for a little while. Sometimes we have to do what we don’t like to get the result we want. So I had to start sacrificing. Now, instead of trying to smash everything in my schedule in the evenings when I get home from work, I have started working in some time in the morning. I actually realized that getting up only 1 hour earlier each day helped me accomplished so much more. 3 of my clients only require 5 hours per month and that 1 hour allowed me to knock out 3 of those clients in my morning hours freeing up my time in the evening to do other things. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves, “it’s only temporary! Soon we will get to that day when our business is all we do.” It will come. But, for now, we’ve got to put in this extra time and rock it out!
So maybe you are trying to figure out how to make things work for you etc. Sometimes you have to do the unthinkable or do the thing you “don’t like” doing and that may be the one thing that shifts your business to the next level. Don’t be afraid to sacrifice a little now for better later! I promise, it works! J
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